High Academic Expectations

High Academic Standards in the US

High expectations from the student, parent, teacher, and educational institution are typically necessary for kids to reach high academic standards. Setting high standards for success can motivate kids with a history of poor academic performance to perform better. The high academic standards in the US are discussed in this essay. The country’s performance among international students will be taken into consideration, and after that, the roles played by parents, schools, and teachers in establishing academic excellence will be assessed. In the 2012 results by the Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), the U.S. was ranked 27th among 34 countries who took part in a mathematics test (PISA, 2015). Clearly, the performance was dismal and below average. Honestly, the results by PISA did not reflect the true picture of U.S performance since there was biasness in student selection for the test. For instance, the students from China who topped the table were noted to be two years ahead in studies. Nevertheless, a general poor performance in mathematics was reported among U.S. students in which only a few reached the baseline set by PISA. In reading, the U.S. was ranked 17th out of the 34 countries (PISA, 2015).

Poor Ranking in Mathematics

The poor ranking in mathematics can be attributed to inadequate problem-solving approaches in U.S. schools (AITBATH, 2015). Such a challenge has led to the development of negative attitudes towards the subject among students. Consequently, a significant number of learners possess limited strategically broad models for complex arithmetic solutions. In fact, the problem begins at early stages of learning where it is estimated that only 26% of students reach the 2nd level of PISA mathematics proficiency (PISA, 2015). Essentially, the mathematical questions of the test entailed real-life applications rather than deploying formulas. Therefore, the U.S mathematics ranking could have climbed the PISA table if an interpretation criterion was used instead of the presently used real-world application of mathematics.

Academic Expectations of Teachers, Parents, and Schools

Generally, teachers set high academic expectations for their respective students in all fields of learning. In fact, any teacher would like to see his or her student perform well since an impressive academic performance portrays the teacher in good light as well. In the U.S., teachers are making efforts to pilot students towards higher performance (Marzano, 2007). I consider the move by the teachers genuine and an indicative of cooperation towards academic excellence of the nation. On the other hand, academic expectations among parents vary considerably from low, to average, to high (Wilder, 2014). Some parents have left their children without setting academic expectation. I sincerely think that such variation contributes to weak performance since students are not goal-oriented from the family background. Although the schools advocate high academic expectations, some have failed due to poor organization which leads to poor teacher-student relationship. Additionally, tracking class attendance and assignment handling has been met with laxity in most schools across the U.S.

Importance of Teachers Setting High Academic Expectations

Basically, it is important for a teacher to set high academic expectations for students since this helps to give them a sense of direction and purpose. With such a goal, both the teacher and student are motivated in their respective roles. To achieve this purpose, the teacher should make every effort to avail necessary resources for achieving the objective in order for the student to be fully equipped at the end of the course (Marzano, 2007). Therefore, setting academic expectations improves the performance of students and teachers alike. However, some students never regard it of essence when such academic expectations are set. Instead, they feel dictated and forced to engage in a burdensome system. In my view, such students waste gracious opportunities for improvement and perfection in academic work.

Conclusions

Following the lesson on setting high academic expectations, I strongly believe that the international performance ranking bodies motivates countries to aim higher in academic achievement. Additionally, in every nation, the schools, teachers, parents, and students have a joint role of driving towards set high academic expectations. Ultimately, teachers play a central role in academic expectations by setting and working towards a goal. Therefore, students are advised to comply and join hands with the teachers for better grades.

References

AlTBACH, P. (2015). The dilemmas of ranking. International Higher Education, (42).

Marzano, R. (2007). The art and science of teaching. Alexandria: Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.

PISA. (2015). Pisa 2015. Retrieved from Country overview:United States: http://www.compareyourcountry.org/pisa/country/usa?lg=en

Wilder, S. (2014). Effects of parental involvement on academic achievement: a meta-synthesis. Educational Review, 66(3), 377-397.